A New Sort of Finance
March 07, 24 by John JeffayBanks don't like risk . . . and they don't like diamonds. Their view, right or wrong, is that diamonds and diamond-based jewelry are a risky business, and they'd rather stick with safer bets. None of that will come as a big surprise if you're reading this. If you ... Read More...
Where Next for De Beers?
February 29, 24 by John JeffayWhat does the future hold for De Beers? Things haven't been easy for anyone in the diamond industry of late. Inflation and interest rates are up, lab grown sales are up, inventories are up, prices are down, China's post-Covid recovery has been sluggish, and... Read More...
Sanctions: We're Still in the Dark
February 22, 24 by John JeffayIt's just over a week until US sanctions on Russian diamonds take effect (1 March) and nobody yet knows how they'll work. Neither OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), the government body that is imposing them, nor the US Customs ... Read More...
In France They Say "Synthetic"
February 15, 24 by John JeffayQuestion: When is a lab grown diamond not a lab grown diamond? Answer: When you're in France. By law, you have to call it a "diamant de synthese" or "synthetique" - "synthetic diamond" or "synthetic". Those are the only acceptable terms.... Read More...
Trapped by Invisible Inscriptions
February 08, 24 by John JeffayIt's like something from a whodunnit - a suspected diamond thief is trapped by invisible inscriptions on the stolen gems. The chances are they didn't even realize there was such a thing, even though the laser technology has been around since the 80s... Read More...
Wrong Kind of Diamond Story
February 01, 24 by John JeffayIt was an incredible story. An elderly woman walked into an auction house in the north of England clutching a bag of low-value costume jewelry and what looked like a very large CZ. She'd picked it out from bric-a-brac at a garage sale years earlier. She stuck it... Read More...
Tragedy of Diavik Plane Crash
January 25, 24 by John JeffayTwo air crashes, less than a month apart, en route to the same diamond mine, are bound to raise safety concerns. They both happened on flights to Rio Tinto's Diavik mine, in Canada's remote and frozen Northwest Territories, 200 miles from the Arctic Circle... Read More...
Lab Growns for the Uber-Wealthy
January 18, 24 by John JeffayLab growns are for people who can't afford natural diamonds, right? Wrong, says Fergus James. He's a jeweler based at the Jumeirah Lake Towers, in Dubai. He has some uber-wealthy clients and he says 90 per cent of his business, by volume, is lab grown... Read More...
Rise of the Lab Grown Clone
January 11, 24 by John JeffayIt's impossible to say how many lab growns are being "cloned". But it's a type of fraud that's clearly on the increase. And the widening price differential between natural and lab grown is only going to act as an incentive for more criminal activity... Read More...
World's Longest Ice Road
January 04, 24 by John JeffayThe rescue of 10 passengers and crew from a plane that crashed in the frozen wasteland of Canada's Northwest Territories last week serves as a powerful reminder of the lengths we go to recover diamonds. From the warmth and safety of a jewelry ... Read More...
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